Contact Email

History

Author Content

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds is one of 25 senators urging President Donald Trump to change his tune on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The South Dakota Republican's signature is listed second among the senators who wrote a letter to Trump asking him to re-engage in the trade pact with 11 Asia-Pacific nations. The deal would have slashed tariffs with the region that represents a massive percentage of the world's economy.

Outgoing Mayor Jerry Toomey attempted to rope Councilwoman Susan Tjarks into a parliamentary quarrel over her comments at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting at City Hall. A letter was sent out, dated Feb. 15, with Toomey’s permission, to some landowners near bicycle paths that they need to remove snow from the paths.

The Mitchell City Council will give Joseph Novak a shot at redemption. Novak says he served 15 years in prison for aiding and advising kidnapping and attempted murder, and he was put under the spotlight when Councilwoman Susan Tjarks questioned whether he should be allowed to serve as a Lyft driver in the city of Mitchell.

Could South Dakota be the new home for the National Rifle Association convention? It will if U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem has her way. After Dallas, Texas, Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway asked the NRA to find a new site for its convention following last week's school shooting in Florida, Noem offered up South Dakota as a option for relocation.

After a few months of debate, Burr Street property owners might finally know who will plow their sidewalks. The Mitchell City Council is scheduled to hold the second reading and consider adoption of an ordinance that would deem the city responsible for clearing snow and ice from the sidewalks on Burr Street between Kay Avenue and Spruce Street. The council will begin its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall with a work session focused on naming rights for city facilities.

Davison County residents are on track to see more of the same in their local government. With fewer than two months remaining before the deadline for primary election candidates to file petitions to appear on the ballot, Davison County Auditor Susan Kiepke, Sheriff Steve Brink, Register of Deeds Deb Young and Commission Chair Brenda Bode have filed petitions for re-election. All but Young filed as Republicans.

No answer. No action. Again. In 45 days in 2018, there were 18 school shootings in the United States, capped off by Wednesday’s shooting in Florida where 17 people were killed. But no new legislation made real progress on Capitol Hill Thursday in response. During a call with reporters the day after the shooting, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds turned the attention away from the gun rights debate and threw his support behind the idea of stronger school security.

An attorney representing the estate of Curtis Meyer questioned several details in the investigation that followed Meyer's 2015 death at the hands of a Mitchell police officer. In a deluge of documents filed by attorney Stephanie Pochop this week, Meyer's mother and representative of his estate Hon Kasselder disputes several pieces of information from the response to an "unjustified death" lawsuit against the city of Mitchell, Chief of Public Safety Lyndon Overweg and former Mitchell Officer Russ Stevenson.

Draining Lake Mitchell is on the table, but city officials don't expect a negative impact on property values. When a trio of concerned citizens questioned a discussion over a potential $6 million draining and dredging project to remove sediment and limit the amount of algae-fueling phosphorus from the lake, a handful of city officials were quick to counter. "Always pain in growth, I guess," Mitchell Mayor Jerry Toomey said after he was questioned about the impact lake drainage could have on someone selling their property next summer.

Stop us if you've heard this one before. Neighbors aren't sure a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Davison County is the right fit for their area. But unlike other CAFO projects, the opposition isn't because of the sight, smell or sound of the operation.